two questions...
David Hyatt
>question 1:
>
>In FAQ, 3.7 lists Harry Shearer. While I haven't seen him on SNL, Murphy
>Brown or Oscar, I did see him on Spy Magazine's special a few years
>ago. He was the Spy Celebrity Poll Man(TM) and was definitely the same
>person who's voice graces the Simpsons. However, I don't think he is
>the same Harry Shearer who appeared in This Is Spinal Tap. PLease correct
>me if I'm wrong and tell me who he played in Spinal Tap (a favorite movie
>of mine), b/c I can't figure it out. A "Harry Shearer" figures quite
>prominently in the credits, both in terms of writing and starring, but
>I don't know who it is.
Yes, this is the same Harry Shearer. He was on the VERY VERY original
cast of Saturday Night Live back in 1975 for a few months, and then
he did something else for a while, and then made Spinal Tap with Rob Reiner,
Lenny from Laverne and Shirley (David McSomething, who played whatshisname
St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap's lead singer) and Christopher Guest, who played
Nigel Tufnel, the guitar player. Shearer played the ugly bass player. Then
he was on Saturday Night Live again, with Christopher Guest (who is married
to Jaime Lee Curtis, I believe, or maybe it's Harry himself who's
married to Jaime Lee) back in the era of Billy Crystal and Martin Short.
Way back in the way backs he was a writer/frequent guest on that really
bad talk show (with occasional moments of brilliance) with Fred Willard
and Hulk Hogan look-alike / TGIFridays spokesman Martin Moll. This show
was airing on 'Nick at Nite' this summer. Harry then hosted
the Spy pilot and is today a frequent contributor to Spy. Recently
had a pretty funny 'photo phunny' in Spy cataloging the use of "Le" in
the titles of American businesses trying to be cool. He also was working
on a thing for them about the recent doorman's strike in New York City.
He also works closely with Spy on other projects; namely, Spy
was going to have a week of programs this summer on ABC during the old
Rick Dees time slot, when ABC was experimenting with all sorts of bad
hosts. He was helping them develop a talk show / interview / round table /
short video feature show, but I don't believe it ever aired. I know this
'cuz I worked at Spy this summer and was asked to raid Al Sharpton's
apartment and steal his garbage so they could analyze it on this show.
Unfortunately, I was busy that night.
Didn't get to meet Harry Shearer, but ate lunch with his friends at Spy.
They all speak very highly of him, like, "Let's get Harry to do this,
he'll do a great job as per usual." And, of course, Spy featured Bart
on its cover this last winter for the "Spy Edition For Kids," mostly
written by Bruce Handy, who now works for Fox on the terrible Sunday pm show
"Best of the Worst," which also employs ... ah, I'll stop there.
So, that's a long answer to your question. Short answer: YES.
----
Disclaimer? Yeah, whatever.
--
JYAN...@hamp.hampshire.edu
In FAQ, 3.7 lists Harry Shearer. While I haven't seen him on SNL, Murphy
Brown or Oscar, I did see him on Spy Magazine's special a few years
ago. He was the Spy Celebrity Poll Man(TM) and was definitely the same
person who's voice graces the Simpsons. However, I don't think he is
the same Harry Shearer who appeared in This Is Spinal Tap. PLease correct
me if I'm wrong and tell me who he played in Spinal Tap (a favorite movie
of mine), b/c I can't figure it out. A "Harry Shearer" figures quite
prominently in the credits, both in terms of writing and starring, but
I don't know who it is.
question 2:
It bothers me that, given Matt groening's political views, he has a racist
character. Abu is given a stereotypical job for middle-easterners/people
of upper african/mediterrean descent, that of owning a convience store.
This wouldn't be so bad, except that there is a dearth of people of color
on the Simpsons, so when the one time someone is showcased, they are
given a stereotypical role, it becomes racist for me. Also, I believe
he's Pakistani (unless I'm getting confused with an equally problematic
episode of Seinfeld from thatr week), but he does not have a Pakistani
accent. He has what white americans tend to think of as a "Cute, middle-
eastern accent." Do other people have thoughts on this? It's particularly
annoying b/c the Simpsons tends to be the only show where I can let my
guard down and just revel in the clever, brillian, satisfying wepisodes
(like itchy-scratchy and marge).
jason
ps: sorry for the typos, this terminal lacks a delete key (yes, it's true!)
pps: i just got onto this list, so this was probably covered, but has anyone
been able to tape and effectively pause the flash of morrison's tombstone
at the beginning of the halloween special ii? was it accurate? (i taped
it at the slow speed, and even with four-heads on the vcr, the picture still
isn't fine enough tp pick up the details).
Doug Krause
#Yes, this is the same Harry Shearer. He was on the VERY VERY original
#cast of Saturday Night Live back in 1975 for a few months,
He wasn't THAT original. Harry didn't show up until the fall of 1979,
after John and Dan left the show. And then he was only a featured
player. He became full fledged on February 9, 1980.
Douglas Krause One yuppie can ruin your whole day.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
University of California, Irvine Internet: dkr...@orion.oac.uci.edu
Welcome to Irvine: Yuppieland USA BITNET: DJKr...@uci.edu
Scott Amspoker
>
>In FAQ, 3.7 lists Harry Shearer....
> However, I don't think he is
>the same Harry Shearer who appeared in This Is Spinal Tap. PLease correct
>me if I'm wrong and tell me who he played in Spinal Tap (a favorite movie
>of mine), b/c I can't figure it out.
He was Spinal Tap's bass player if I'm not mistaken.
--
Scott Amspoker |
Basis International, Albuquerque, NM | This post stops at all
| railroad crossings.
sc...@bbx.basis.com |
LPA...@vm1.yorku.ca
Laverne & Shirley), Christopher Guest and the 4th name escapes me...Not
only that - Harry Shearer was also fired from SNL for doing tasteless
sketches not approved by Lorne Michaels, etc...
Sincerely,
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| Laurence H. Palter (LPa...@VM1.YorkU.CA) or (LPalter@Yorkvm1) |
| OR (70771...@Compuserve.Com) |
| York University - 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ont. M3J 1P3 |
| (416)736-5254 |
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Marty Del Vecchio
>
>In FAQ, 3.7 lists Harry Shearer. While I haven't seen him on SNL, Murphy
>Brown or Oscar, I did see him on Spy Magazine's special a few years
>ago. He was the Spy Celebrity Poll Man(TM) and was definitely the same
>person who's voice graces the Simpsons. However, I don't think he is
>the same Harry Shearer who appeared in This Is Spinal Tap. PLease correct
>me if I'm wrong and tell me who he played in Spinal Tap (a favorite movie
>of mine), b/c I can't figure it out. A "Harry Shearer" figures quite
>prominently in the credits, both in terms of writing and starring, but
>I don't know who it is.
You are wrong. You are being corrected. Sorry, but you asked :->.
Did anyone catch his article in Spy last year about a group he invented that
collects tapes of TV stations' technical difficulties? He called them TD'ers,
and wrote up some fake newsletters, and bragged about his extensive collection
of tapes. I think he even managed to convince some media types that it was
legit.
--
================================
Marty Del Vecchio
Software Engineer
Shiva Corporation
Dan Maloney
"This Is ... Spinal Tap". He played bassist Nigel Fufnel.
Ah, the classics!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Maloney |"A man that envies our family is a man that needs
UR Biology | help" ... Lisa Simpson DISCLAIMER: Use in
ia...@troi.cc.rochester.edu | a well-ventilated area. May stain furniture.
Compu$erve 70143,1514 | Prolonged exposure may cause chemical burns.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Anthony
In a previous article, ia...@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Dan Maloney) says:
>The Harry Shearer of Simpsons voice fame is most definitely the same HS from
>"This Is ... Spinal Tap". He played bassist Nigel Fufnel.
>
>Ah, the classics!
Close, but no cigar.
The name is Nigel Tufnel, and that was the character played by Chris Guest.
Shearer's character was Derek Smalls. You had the bass player part right.
Just to finish the thought, McKean was David St Hubbins. The other 2 guys
in the band were pretty much non-descript.
--
Replies to: Eddie Anthony | I wanted to have a psychic look at the
aa...@cleveland.freenet.edu | stars and tell me what my future holds
ad...@yfn.ysu.edu | so I called one up yesterday. She wasn't
eant...@heartland.bradley.edu| there but had an answering machine. Why?
David Hyatt
>
>Did anyone catch his article in Spy last year about a group he invented that
>collects tapes of TV stations' technical difficulties? He called them TD'ers,
>and wrote up some fake newsletters, and bragged about his extensive collection
>of tapes. I think he even managed to convince some media types that it was
>legit.
This was not his piece, that piece was written by Jack Barth with help
from Mike Wilkins (both Stanford alumns :) ) and the details of the
whole story of the group, called "Please Stand By," is chronicled in
an excellent book by Jack Barth called "American Quest." Highly
recommended.
--
Doug Krause
#Harry Shearer was also fired from SNL for doing tasteless
#sketches not approved by Lorne Michaels, etc...
Are you sure about this? I ask because Harry's first stint lasted until
May 24, 1980. This is when all the remnants of the original cast left.
So Harry *could* have been fired, but it was awfully weird timing.
Lee Phillips
It bothers me that, given Matt groening's political views, he has a racist
character. Abu is given a stereotypical job for middle-easterners/people
of upper african/mediterrean descent, that of owning a convience store.
His name is Apu, pronounced "ohpoo". It is an Indian name, and he is
Indian.
[....] Also, I believe he's Pakistani [....] but he does not have a
Pakistani accent. He has what white americans tend to think of as a
"Cute, middle-eastern accent."
Only white Americans who are as self-righteously uninformed as you are.
The accent is clearly Indian. Your post makes no sense whatsoever,
unless you think that Pakistan is in the Middle East or Africa.
Otherwise, why do you consider placing a "Pakistani" character in a
stereotypical role for "middle-easterners/people of upper african/mediterrean
descent" (whatever that means) is "racist"? And, as Arabs and northern
Indians and, apparently, the Simpsons are all caucasians, what does race
have to do with it?
When I attended Hampshire I saw a lot of rich white kids who tried,
unsuccessfully, to smother their seething racism and fear of other
cultures by adopting an extreme liberalism and claiming to see bigotry
everywhere. You sound like the perfect example of the type. Later
you explain that you expect conservatives to be racists. Well, you
won't have such bad pickings among American conservatives, perhaps,
but the real mother-lode is right there on your cozy campus.
LPA...@vm1.yorku.ca
that in the book "Saturday Night"...will update author/publisher later...
Bruce Holloway
- Bruce
--
Bruce Holloway
UUCP: amdahl.com!kennel!216!37!Bruce.Holloway
INTERNET: Bruce.H...@f37.n216.z1.FIDONET.ORG
"The views expressed above are those of Bruce Holloway only."
Corby E. Page
morality down their throats, let me preface this by saying that Apu is
my favorite Simpsons character. But there are issues worth examining...
In article <911115141...@fozzie.nrl.navy.mil>
phil...@FOZZIE.NRL.NAVY.MIL (Lee Phillips) writes:
> Only white Americans who are as self-righteously uninformed as you are.
> The accent is clearly Indian.
I don't want to turn this into a personal argument, because I think the
broader Question of Apu is worthy of discussion. But my girlfriend,
whose Indian accent is quite strong, really had her feelings hurt by
Apu's accent, which is not as precise as Lee seems to think. As an
intense fan of the Simpsons, I told her how positively he was portrayed
in the shows, but she explained that this wasn't the point. To her,
this was as offensive as if a white guy had done a really shoddy
attempt at trying to imitate a black person "speaking jive." I
personally think the producers could have been more sensitive, and Apu
is such a fantastic character that I think he would definitely justify
hiring an actor who is more familiar with the Indian accent. What do
ya'll think?
Oh, and my personal anecdote: This summer, I worked in downtown Houston
doing the nightshift at Stop 'n' Go, a convenience-store chain. On some
nights I got to work with another guy (who was Indian). The guy who
worked at the store two blocks down from me was held up at gunpoint,
but I never became the target of anything more than verbal threats.
During one month (July), there were 5 "convenience store slayings" in
the city, and I eventually quit because I figured 5 bucks an hour
wasn't worth it. But I gleefully identify with the black humor of Apu.
See ya'll,
Corby
Dan Maloney
Oops...I realized my mistake shortly after I posted that. How could I
have been so remiss in my duties as a movie trivia maven? You must admit,
though, that I got the classics part correct.
"It goes to eleven..."
Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton
>Before people think that I'm trying to stuff some politically-correct
>morality down their throats, let me preface this by saying that Apu is
>my favorite Simpsons character. But there are issues worth examining...
>I don't want to turn this into a personal argument, because I think the
>broader Question of Apu is worthy of discussion. But my girlfriend,
>whose Indian accent is quite strong, really had her feelings hurt by
>Apu's accent, which is not as precise as Lee seems to think. As an
>intense fan of the Simpsons, I told her how positively he was portrayed
>in the shows, but she explained that this wasn't the point. To her,
>this was as offensive as if a white guy had done a really shoddy
>attempt at trying to imitate a black person "speaking jive." I
>personally think the producers could have been more sensitive, and Apu
>is such a fantastic character that I think he would definitely justify
>hiring an actor who is more familiar with the Indian accent. What do
>ya'll think?
The point of the Simpsons is not to make characters sound like real people,
but to make them cartoons...after Krusty, Apu is one of the most cartoonish
of the lot, and I like him a lot as well (though Nick Riviera is coming up
fast ;-) (Oh, yes, BTW, I wanted to remind this Mother-Of-All-Newsgroups
that we know that Apu's brother's name is Sanjay, though we've never seen
him.)
I went to grad school with a guy who sounded A LOT like the guy from "Short
Circuit" who kept spouting malapropisms; he was also insensed at the
characterization, and the actor was Indian himself--what was offensive to
him was the character's buffoonery, not the authenticity or not of his
accent, and the suggestion that all Indian immigrants were similarly dopey.
Remove Apu's "buffoonery" (more zaniness, I would say though) and he's no
longer a cartoon character. Apu is a multiple-sigma outlayer on the
distribution of convenience store owners, and, in a cartoon setting, that's
what rates as funny.
What I find more offensive are the portrayals on "In Living Color" (which
also deserves a special Emmy for promoting tolerance for
homosexuality...NOT!)
ras
Amitava Biswas
>I personally think the producers could have been more sensitive, and Apu
>is such a fantastic character that I think he would definitely justify
>hiring an actor who is more familiar with the Indian accent. What do
>ya'll think?
Actually, I take a small smidgen of exception to the notion of "Indian
accent". You'll find in India many accents with which english is spoken -
Tamil, Bengali, etc, but I do think that more to the point is the lexicon
of english as spoken in India, rather than the pronounciation.
Indian English is in many ways as different from US [majority] English
as is English as spoken in england, and I think that much of it is due
not to accents, but actual words in everyday use. For example, how often
do we in the US use the word "auspicious"? But in India, it is much more
common.
Apu's accent doesn't bother me at all. It's not the same as my parents'
accent (Bengali) or mine (New York, if anything), but it does sound
quite like other Indians I have known. It also makes a difference as
to how "fresh off the boat" he's supposed to be. For example, pencil
erasers in India and other places are called "rubbers", a situation
that would probably not last long after one got to this country!
In any case, I'm sorry your girlfriend was so offended, and perhaps my
Bengali-American friends have become too "Westernized", but Apu doesn't
bother me at all. He would be better done and more realistic if they
had a professional linguist on staff to deal with these issues, but I
for one am prepared to let it slide.
Ami
Brian D. Moore
|> question 2:
|> It bothers me that, given Matt groening's political views, he has a racist
|> character. Abu is given a stereotypical job for middle-easterners/people
|> of upper african/mediterrean descent, that of owning a convience store.
|> This wouldn't be so bad, except that there is a dearth of people of color
|> on the Simpsons, so when the one time someone is showcased, they are
|> given a stereotypical role, it becomes racist for me. Also, I believe
|> he's Pakistani (unless I'm getting confused with an equally problematic
|> episode of Seinfeld from thatr week), but he does not have a Pakistani
|> accent. He has what white americans tend to think of as a "Cute, middle-
|> eastern accent." Do other people have thoughts on this? It's particularly
|> annoying b/c the Simpsons tends to be the only show where I can let my
|> guard down and just revel in the clever, brillian, satisfying wepisodes
|> (like itchy-scratchy and marge).
Quick, someone call the PC police, Groening must be stopped!! I shall
attempt to explain this without yawning. Perhaps a syllogism will suffice:
a) Everyone on the Simpsons is a boob.
b) There are minorities on the Simpsons.
ergo, c) Minorities on the Simpsons are portrayed as boobs.
Dr. Hibbert is the obvious exception, but then he's supposed to be the
Simpsons' Thursday-slot rival, so he can't be a boob :-). As for the supposed
dearth of 'minorities' on the Simpson's, pray tell, besides the Simpsons (who,
if they weren't white, would cause such a backlash that an above-ground nuclear
test would be dwarfed in comparison), can you name the characters on the
Simpsons? And of those, how many are minorities? And how does that percentage
compare to the population at large?
This post is not to be taken as overtly rude. However, if somone opens
their PC mouth, I am compelled to make them insert his/her PC foot in it.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian D. Moore | Homebrewing -- the only sport exclusively for
Space Physics and Astronomy | anal-retentive alcoholics.
Rice University, Houston TX | Relax -- have a home brew.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian D. Moore
|> In article <1991Nov14....@leland.Stanford.EDU> dhy...@leland.Stanford.EDU (David Hyatt) writes:
|> #Yes, this is the same Harry Shearer. He was on the VERY VERY original
|> #cast of Saturday Night Live back in 1975 for a few months,
|>
|> He wasn't THAT original. Harry didn't show up until the fall of 1979,
|> after John and Dan left the show. And then he was only a featured
|> player. He became full fledged on February 9, 1980.
|>
an original cast member, although on the same level as fellow writers Al
Franken and Tom Davis.
Richard McCombs
> In article <ki449d...@cs.widener.edu>, JYAN...@hamp.hampshire.edu writes
>
> |> question 2:
> |> It bothers me that, given Matt groening's political views, he has a racist
> |> character. Abu is given a stereotypical job for middle-easterners/people
> |> of upper african/mediterrean descent, that of owning a convience store.
>
> Quick, someone call the PC police, Groening must be stopped!! I shall
> attempt to explain this without yawning. Perhaps a syllogism will suffice:
>
> a) Everyone on the Simpsons is a boob.
> b) There are minorities on the Simpsons.
> ergo, c) Minorities on the Simpsons are portrayed as boobs.
>
> Dr. Hibbert is the obvious exception, but then he's supposed to be the
> Simpsons' Thursday-slot rival, so he can't be a boob :-). As for the suppose
Actually not everyone is a boob, what about Flanders.
(I think I missed Flanders failed so maybe I don't know what I'm saying)
Rick
Domain ri...@ricksys.lonestar.org (Richard McCombs)
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